Dubai – Mubasher: Dubai’s non-oil private sector showed the slowest growth since October 2016 in April due to a sluggish growth in wholesale and retail, and travel and tourism sectors.
Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker Index, an indicator of the emirate’s operating conditions in the non-oil private sector, declined to 53.9 points in the fourth month of 2018, compared to 55.3 in March.
“The softer Economy Tracker Index in April appears to reflect weaker inventory accumulation as well as slower output and new work growth. However, demand still appears to be relatively robust,” head of MENA research at Emirates NBD Khatija Haque commented.
The growth of business activity in Dubai’s non-oil private sector reported a slow growth in April, as several companies increased their production to meet the strong demand, while job creation broke out of stagnation for the first time since January.
Input prices increased during April after registering a decline a month before, which – coupled with raised wages – caused an inflation in output prices.
“Businesses continued to forecast an improvement in output levels over the next 12 months. In fact, the overall degree of positive sentiment reached a three-month high in April and scored above the historical average,” Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker’s report found.
